Sunday, 14 December 2014

Review | Glowwbox December 2014

There's various subscription beauty boxes on the market currently (like Glossybox, Birchbox and Jolie Box) and though I'm a self-confessed beauty lover they're pretty uncharted territory for me. I was contacted by Glowwbox, a monthly beauty subscription service for women with darker skin tones, and I was excited to be sent December's box - the 'Party Season' Edition*.

The subscription costs £10 per month plus £3.95 postage and packaging, so you get quite a lot for the price. Glowwbox is a UK company but also ships to Ireland and EU companies at an extra cost. At least 5 products are included in each box which can be a variety of sizes including sample, trial and full size. In this particular box I received 7 items and the only product which wasn't full size was the Inlight Super-food Face Mask.

You can tell by the product selection in this box that it's all about the prep that goes into a big night out. The Lord & Berry Lipstick is my favourite item included. The shade I received - Raspberry - is richly pigmented and leaves a smooth buttery finish. The lipstick fits into my makeup collection perfectly and is definitely something I would personally buy. Another favourite from the box is the Bellapierrre Eyeshadow in Celebration, a shimmery gold mineral eyeshadow. I'm a bit of an eyeshadow novice but the colour is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly apt for the makeup looks I'll be donning this season. I'll be pairing the mineral shadow with the Mehron Black Mascara also included in the box which claims to thicken lashes without dreaded clumping.

2 Motions Hair products from their Natural Textures range are also included in the box out of 4 options - the Deep Conditioning Mask, the Gloss Serum, the Smoothing Conditioner or the Moisturising Cleanser. It was really hard to find accurate pricing for these products online in the UK but generally the Motions Hair products retail for between £2 and £8. I've been familiar with the brand for years but I've never really been interested in using their products until recently as the brand has finally stepped up it's game with a recent packing revamp and more of their products now contain decent ingredients. I've not yet tried the Natural Textures Deep Conditioning Mask or the Moisturising Cleanser so I was excited to see that the full-sized products were included in this box, especially as I get through so much product due to the length and thickness of my hair.

I'm also excited to try the products by British organic skincare brand Inlight. I've had so much success using the Bravura London DermaflannelI'm curious to see how the Inlight Face Glove, which helps gently exfoliate the skin, will compare. The Super-food mask boasts a pretty impressive ingredients list too so I'm hoping this will give my winter-beaten skin the pick-me-up it needs, though it's a shame the sample sachet wasn't a little bit bigger.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the contents of this particular box as the product selection was well thought out and good value for money. I love that Glowwbox seeks to cater for women of colour as this really sets it apart from the plethora of beauty boxes on the market currently. If every box was like this I would definitely get myself a subscription. My only criticism would be that this box aims to please all women with darker skintones 'whether you're Black, Asian, Mixed or another beautiful brown hue' - a great concept but very difficult to deliver on. With this particular box for example I think the Motions hair products, which are marketed towards women with Afro-Caribben hair, won't appeal to many asian women with fine or straight hair. Beauty box subscription services in general need to offer more options to tailor the products included as it's impossible to appeal to everyone, regardless of skin colour. It looks like Glowwbox are working on 'a feature' to help better tailor each box to the buyer which makes the subscription service more appealing to me, though I have to admit it is exciting to try products I wouldn't ordinarily pick for myself.